Reaching Out
by The Wanderer of Infinity
Summary: Rukia Kuchiki was never one to reach out and receive. But when she met Ichigo Kurosaki, her life changed forever.


**~Reaching Out~**

**AN:**

**I couldn't help it. I really felt I needed to start writing this story, so here is the First Chapter/Intro.**

**I update, like, almost every two days, so be sure to check!**

**This story is written in Rukia's POV, so I hope you'll like seeing IchiRuki from her point of view!**

**-Fanatic99**

* * *

It seems like it's easy to reach out.

It seems easy to reach out for help, quickly seizing the opportunity as it arises. It seems easy to let your pride loose and simply reach out.

For me, it's one of the hardest things to do. In fact, I'm an individualist: I believe that I'm such a horrible person for the things I have done that I don't deserve to know the people around me who love me.

I have done so many things that make my heart hurt.

But when I met Ichigo Kurosaki that fateful day, I finally started learning how to reach out.

--

* * *

**Karakura Town **

**10:58 PM**

I stepped into the dark room. Heh.

I could've sworn I felt the reiatsu somewhere here.

"WHAT THE HELL?!"

I was so shocked I fell off the table I happened to be standing on.

I could no longer feel the hollow's reiatsu.

I fell and my head hit the ground. I winced and looked up at the yeller.

There was a boy in front of me- a REALLY tall boy, with ridiculous spiky orange hair. His expression seemed to be stuck with a smirk, and his eyes were narrowed and terrifying but beautiful.

Wait- what?!

"You can see me?!" I asked him in bewilderment.

"You can bet your ass I can!

The light turned on.

'What the hell, are you doing, IN MY ROOM?!"

--

"I totally believe you," The boy smirked. "So, you're a shinigami. You came from 'Soul Society' to kill 'Hollows'."

"I also use konso on Wholes."

"Ah, yes!" The boy said, his eyes widened sarcastically. "I almost forgot about that. That too."

I nodded. "Yes. It's good you finally understand."

The boy suddenly flipped a coffee table nearby.

"DO YOU REALLY EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT BULLSHIT!?"

The boy came towards me quickly. "Let me just get you down so I can call the Police!"

I frowned and pointed my open palm at him.

With a quick chant of kidou, he was down.

"I… can't… move!" The boy yelled, gritting his teeth. "You are one creepy girl!"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "For your information, I have lived over ten of your lifetimes. I could so easily kill you as I disabled you."

The boy looked shocked.

All of a sudden, we both heard an ear piercing shriek.

The boy's eyes widened. "Yuzu?!"

I stared at him blankly. Why would he say 'Citrus'?

I released the bind and concentrated.

All of a sudden, I could feel the hollow's reiatsu again. It felt… cloudy and distant, blocked by a bigger and more powerful one.

I turned to face the boy. He was practically bleeding spiritual energy.

_…how could this be? He's a HUMAN! _

Suddenly, the door to the room opened.

It was a little girl with blond hair. Her cheeks were bruised and bloodied, and her knees were scraped as if she had fallen many times.

"YUZU!" The boy yelled, his eyes wild and his expression frenzied.

The girl collapsed in the doorway.

"Ichi-nii-san," She whispered. "Something… something's downstairs. It… it's got… it's got Karin. You've… got… you've got to save her…"

I looked at Yuzu, my eyes widening every second.

The boy rushed into his room again and pulled out a… baseball bat. He looked determined, scared, and threatening at the same time.

He tried to get out of the room.

"What the hell are you doing?!" I yelled after him. "You have no idea what you're dealing with!"

"I need to protect my family!" He screamed back, running down the stairs.

I quickly ran after him, overtaking him in a split second.

I blocked his way.

"Move, midget." The boy scowled. "I need to save my sister Karin. I have no time for this."

I looked at him for the first time in real light. He looked tortured, not physically, but emotionally, by his conscience. His defeated yet determined look reminded me of… me.

"…do you really want to do this?"

The boy nodded. "Yes."

So with a deep breath, we both stepped out onto the street.

The hollow was there. It had a little girl with black hair in its jaws, ready to eat.

"You… you bastard!" The boy screamed in rage.

He ran towards the hollow.

"NO!" I yelled. "Don't!"

He lifted his bat as if to beat the hollow, but it easily swiped the boy away with one limb.

The hollow shifted, the unconscious little girl bobbing up and down along with its movements.

The boy flew towards a wall. He left a crack on the wall.

"NO!" I repeated, my emotions in panic mode. What could've possessed him to go in and attack something two times bigger than him just like that?

The hollow stood up on its hind legs as if to start eating the child.

I narrowed my eyes and drew my zanpakutou.

I rushed at it, cutting off one limb.

The Hollow shrieked, dropping the child into my arms. I carefully lay her on the sidewalk to be out of harm.

The Hollow was definitely angry. It was enraged so much that it came at me, running with its 3 remaining limbs.

I turned around. "Wha-?!"

Before the hollow could hit me, though, the boy got a clear swing right into the hollow's mask. It cracked a little.

The boy was bleeding badly. He looked horrible.

"What are you doing?!" I screamed. "Why are you doing this? Let me handle this!"

"It's my family," He responded stiffly, as if he had no room for argument. "I love them and I want to protect them, even if it means putting myself at risk."

I didn't have time to respond to that.

The Hollow was behind him, jaws open, ready to take the flesh.

--

I still don't know what possessed me to have done what I did next.

Was it simply instinct?

Or caring?

…or was it fate?

--

I quickly jumped and pushed the boy out of the way.

I felt the hollow's teeth sink into my flesh around my back my upper neck. It stung so badly it made me want to rip my skin off. I could feel the blood leave my body in rushes.

I collapsed.

"Shinigami!" The boy yelled, concerned.

He rushed towards me as I propped myself towards a wall.

I winced at the pain.

Was there any way out of this?

I was almost sure I was going to die. No. I was sure.

And in the process the boy and his entire family would be eaten without my assistance in protecting them.

I looked at the boy's eyes. He had barely known me for a day and his eyes still had the same level of concern for me as his sisters that he had known for all their years.

That boy would die in vain.

I blinked and sighed. There was one way out of this fate. There was one way to prevent all the worse from happening for know, but it would cause hell for sure in the future.

I bit my lip and lifted my zanpakutou.

"We are going to die," I whispered weakly.

The boy looked more determined than ever. "I don't think so."

The Hollow roared behind us, ready to kill.

I lifted my zanpakutou higher. "Take hold of my sword and stab yourself with it, human. I will transfer my powers to you."

The boy was silent, but he smiled as he took the sword's blade.

He was already ready to stab himself, but I stopped him.

"…what is your name?"

"My name is Ichigo Kurosaki. I am ready, Shinigami."

"…it's not 'Shinigami'. It's Rukia Kuchiki."

And with that chance encounter, my life changed forever.

--

Ichigo stood in front of me, the hollow's blood dripping down from his zanpakutou's blade.

I stared at him in amazement.

In less than 5 minutes of being a Shinigami, he had managed to kill a hollow.

I felt myself smile, but I also felt the sting of my injury.

I winced.

Ichigo smiled and reached out his hand to pull me up.

"C'mon. We need to get you patched up, Rukia."

I stared at his hand.

No one had offered to help me in a long time. Never like this.

I also thought about how I let him say my name without any need for an honorific. It usually would take a while until I told someone to just call me 'Rukia' instead of 'Rukia-san or –chan'.

But for some reason, we had bonded so much when I transferred my power to him that we were already well acquainted.

I shook my head at his hand and painfully stood up by myself. My cuts stung, and my eyes watered through the pain.

"…I-I'm fine," I croaked, trying to smile.

--

That day I couldn't reach out to take his hand.

I just couldn't.

But Ichigo Kurosaki taught me how to reach out, and I want to tell you how.

* * *

**AN:**

**Ah, Chapter One of 'Reaching Out'!**

**I decided to write the way Ichigo and Rukia met again in my own words and with a little more details and twist, along with the alternate ending of his hand reaching out, just to get this whole fic started.**

**I'm going to finish The True Will of The Heart before I upload this story again. **

**Please give me feedback by clicking the little white and green button underneath this sentence! Trust me! That means you visitor guys too! You can REVIEW! **


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